South Bay Digest

Lawndale : Suit Passes Court Test

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge refused this week to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to force Lawndale to conduct an environmental impact study on its proposed civic center expansion.

Judge Ricardo Torres rejected the city's efforts to derail the suit, which was filed in September by a residents' group called Friends of Lawndale.

The suit claims that the project, which would nearly double the size of the civic center to about 30,000 square feet, will create traffic and parking problems that should be evaluated in an environmental study. The city, in approving the project, ruled that the expansion would not have sufficient impact to warrant such a study.

Torres let stand most of the lawsuit, which will be the subject of a Los Angeles court hearing on Nov. 16, according to residents' attorney A. D. (Jack) Allen.